COVID-19 infection and nanomedicine applications for development of vaccines and therapeutics: An overview and future perspectives based on polymersomes

Mohammad A I Al-Hatamleh; Ma'mon M Hatmal; Walhan Alshaer; Engku Nur Syafirah E A Rahman; Manali Haniti Mohd-Zahid; Dina M Alhaj-Qasem; Chan Yean Yean; Iskandar Z Alias; Juhana Jaafar; Khalid Ferji; Jean-Luc Six; Vuk Uskoković; Hiroshi Yabu; Rohimah Mohamud

doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2021.173930

COVID-19 infection and nanomedicine applications for development of vaccines and therapeutics: An overview and future perspectives based on polymersomes

Eur J Pharmacol. 2021 Apr 5:896:173930. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2021.173930. Epub 2021 Feb 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
² Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, The Hashemite University, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa, 13133, Jordan.
³ Cell Therapy Center (CTC), The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan.
⁴ Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Chemical Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
⁶ Precision Medical Laboratory, Amman, 11954, Jordan.
⁷ Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia; Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
⁸ Department of Chemical Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia; Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
⁹ Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 81310, Johor, Malaysia.
¹⁰ Université de Lorraine, CNRS, LCPM, F-5400, Nancy, France.
¹¹ TardigradeNano LLC, Irvine, CA, 92604, USA.
¹² WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.
¹³ Department of Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia; Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia. Electronic address: rohimahm@usm.my.

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in December 2019 and caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, took the world by surprise with an unprecedented public health emergency. Since this pandemic began, extraordinary efforts have been made by scientists to understand the pathogenesis of COVID-19, and to fight the infection by providing various preventive, diagnostic and treatment opportunities based on either novel hypotheses or past experiences. Despite all the achievements, COVID-19 continues to be an accelerating health threat with no specifically approved vaccine or therapy. This review highlights the recent advances in COVID-19 infection, with a particular emphasis on nanomedicine applications that can help in the development of effective vaccines or therapeutics against COVID-19. A novel future perspective has been proposed in this review based on utilizing polymersome nano-objects for effectively suppressing the cytokine storm, which may reduce the severity of COVID-19 infection.

Keywords: 2019-nCoV; Coronavirus; Cytokine storm; Nanomedicine; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Antiviral Agents / pharmacology*
COVID-19 Drug Treatment*
COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Drug Development
Humans
Nanomedicine / methods*
SARS-CoV-2 / drug effects*
Viral Vaccines / pharmacology*

Substances

Antiviral Agents
Viral Vaccines